>Romans 7:13 has this phrase, which I find incomprehensible:
>
>hINA GENHTAI KAQ hUPERBOLHN AMARTWLOS hH AMARTIA DIA THS ENTOLHS
>
>I think that the phrase KAQ hUPERBOLHN AMARTWLOS is throwing me for a
loop
>here. What does this phrase mean in this context? As I'm currently
reading
>it, it says "so that sin should become (hINA GEHTAI hH AMARTIA)
according to
>excessive sinfulness (KAQ hUPERBOLHN AMARTWLOS) through the law (DIA
THS
>ENTOLHS)", and I keep wondering *what* sin should become according to
>excessive sinfulness.
>
>Am I misunderstanding the way the word KAQ is being used here?
Probably.
(1) KAQ' hUPERBOLHN go together to form an adverb meaning practically
the same thing as the anglicized French "par excellence."
(2) hINA + subjunctive undergoes massive transformations in Koine from
its primary function as a purpose clause in classical Attic. It becomes
already in the Koine what it is <italic>par excellence</italic> in
modern Greek: an infinitive able to serve all the functions of an
infinitive when combined with different particles. Others may interpret
this differently, but I'd say that hINA GENHTAI in the above clause
really is the equivalent of hWSTE GENHQHNAI KAQ' hUPERBOLHN hAMARTWLON
THN hAMARTIAN--, something like, "with the consequence that Sin becomes
UTTERLY Sinful through the effect of the commandment ..."
I think that quite possibly the rhetorical heightening in this phrase
obscures its (relatively) simple meaning. "Sin" here, of course, is not
some concrete sinful action but a demonic power that can and does seize
control of personality, and when Paul says that the effect of the
commandment is to make Sin become unutterably sinful, he means that the
full dimensions of Sin's demonic aspect, always present before his Bar
Mitzvah (my playful way of reading this passage, whether or not it
really has any autobiographical dimensions), suddenly, now in the light
of his burgeoning sexuality and adolescent rebellion against parents
(and all that), is made manifest before his understanding in all its
dreadful demonic power. Think of Martin Luther, cowering behind his
desk and hurling inkpots at the devil in the corner. I'm not trying to
be funny; I think that this passage is filled with a sense of terror
before the demonic onslaught of Sin. And this sequence ends with a cry
of despair: "Who will deliver me ...?"
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/